On the way there Markus and Bailey spoke with each other to kill time. He was neither blindfolded nor unconscious. They were past that.
"Did you know every region expect the central region had at least one death zone?" Bailey asked
"I suppose. Crimson has the volcano. And this forest— I guess." He said
"Indeed. Our neighbours to the east, Aquabourne have a tamed death zone, The Great Falls. But also the northern part— the frozen wastelands and Siber are under their control. Below that is the Petros Mountain Range. The death zone in Stonebourne. Then naturally Windbourne has its Mountain of Death. The single most deadly death zone that has a 100% success rate at killing the masters of one element. But there is the hollow too, apparently some monsters lurk deep in the Hollow but they've not arisen from there to start up trouble." Bailey said, recounting her information about death zones in the continent
"Is this your attempt at lighthearted conversation? It's poor. We both know I don't have a real chance at surviving by June." Markus said
"If you do not run into the lesser spirit, you can survive this. Maybe even advance. These monsters are tough but not infallible. You posses the power needed to defeat them." She said
"Possessed. Past tense… I can't even use whirlwind anymore." Markus said with a sigh
"You still have your absurd volumes of wind essence. Sure you will use more of it as you can't draw onto the wind as you once could, but you are still a learned. If you behave you will restore your connection as well, so do not despair." She said, looking out the window
Eventually they arrived at the edge of the forest.
"This is your stop. Your objective is to make it to the cabin in the middle of the forest. Although it is only several dozen kilometres, it is several dozen kilometres filled with deadly beasts. Best of luck." She said before kicking Markus out and driving off.
Then the car stopped and reversed.
"Oh- and if you try to run Charlotte will track you with that construct on you and then I'll kill you. Or she might detonate it if you meddle with it. Point is— don't be dumb. And we have the forest surrounded to prevent monsters from attacking nearby cities and whatnot." Bailey said before taking off
"Wha—" Markus said before he was left alone.
With a sigh he unleashed his essence only to be met by ferocious presences rubbing against his essence.
When they sensed a new presence, that of a human, they launched into an attack. Their food was delivered to them.
Markus sensed three beasts running at him full speed ahead. It was a one metre tall falcon, a wolf and a snake.
"Fuck me—" he said as he flew up.
The falcon set its sights right into the young man and with its wind essence, it reinforced its beak and formed a shape similar to a lance.
The falcon dove right toward Markus.
With adrenaline running through his body, Markus narrowly dodged the lance construct and created several wind bullets.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
Shots rang through the forest in a short burst. Then it was all silent. Only feathers fell to the ground following a heavy thud.
The falcon was dead.
No sooner did the falcon fall, the wolf arrived and sniffed the corpse of the feathery predator.
The wolf looked up only to see several spears aimed at the ground.
Running and diving between them, its mane set ablaze. Then the wolf ran on air itself and leaped toward Markus.
As it's maw opened to bite Markus' throat, a barrier manifested right in its face. Smashing its head into the barrier, the wolf fell in a daze.
Right below it, Markus' essence stretched and created spikes.
With a sharp whine, the wolf died as spikes pierced its body.
From the bushes, the serpent had watched this unfold. And once it did, it slithered away from the scene with all its speed.
As the night fell, Markus skinned the wolf. Then to start a fire, he rubbed sticks together— or rather spinned them together with wind to create friction, heat and by enriching the zone with oxygen, he had fire.
'My lessons actually paid off. Huh—' he remarked
Before long, the smell of roasting falcon spread around the area.
As Markus grew tired, he extended his essence to its furthest, sensing over 200 metres around him for any dangers. After not finding any, he went to sleep.
Only… he sensed the dangers above ground. Below the ground, a particular serpent had crawled its way.
With a stone affinity, the snake created tunnels to sneak up on prey.
So in the dead of night, the ground shifted.
As the ground grew disturbed and something seemed to arise, the wind howled as it blew through the forest, startling Markus awake.
Not a moment too late, the serpent jumped from the ground right for Markus' throat.
It made contact but it was with his essence shell. When it bit though, the shell exploded and tore the serpent's mouth open.
The animal squirmed around and flailed its body.
Without hesitation, Markus swung down his wind blade and decapitated the snake. Within a few more moments the serpent was dead and still.
"Holy shit— it was underground!? If the wind hadn't acted up I would've… huh… it- warned me?" Markus said aloud
"It did. Not even I sensed the slithery bastard. This death zone might be your chance at life after all." Anax said
"I'm going back to sleep—" Markus said before climbing up a tree and going to sleep on a platform of wind.
This one was maintained by him simply having essence.
Nothing else happened that night.
The next morning however, Markus decided to venture deeper into the forest.
"This time I will actually keep my essence zone for only 10 metres around me." Markus said as he moved forward
Whilst this would not particularly attract attention, it did not mean he was free from it.
A pack of wolves approached the lone figure.
All of them had silver fur. As they approached, they howled in low tones and stirred the power of wind around them.
Markus, surrounded, thought of an old trick.
He expanded his essence and removed all oxygen from the area.
The wolves had instinct but no actual intelligence. At least not one about molecules and whatnot— so within a minute they all fell down unconscious.
"Should I kill them? It's only right— they would've killed me." Markus thought
"Do you stand to gain any benefit?" Anax asked
"No?" Markus said
"Remember when you read a chapter about turning a defeated foe into an ally. You could try taming the wolves? They would keep guard at night." Anax said
Markus looked among them.
"How do I train wolves?" Markus asked
"Just wait for them to wake up and oppress them with your essence. They will submit after being defeated and spared." Anax said
"Really? It's that easy?" Markus asked
"No, you idiot! But these animals are used to hierarchies. It might work. At worst you waste some time. At best you get some night guards." Anax said
"Uhuh-" Markus said awaiting for the wolves to recover
When they did, he unleashed his essence upon them, effectively trying to suffocate them.
They whined and crawled with their heads lowered toward Markus.
"Does this mean you'll serve me now?" Markus asked
They wagged their tails as his essence oppression waned.
Markus moved forward with his new pets in tow. Six wolves was quite a group. They were equivalent to about six stage twos considering how far away they were from the heart of the forest and their overall essence potency but they were more for keeping guard than fighting.
As a matter of fact, Markus progressed almost ten kilometres with his pack as the nearby beasts did not want to get involved with a pack of six wolves and their human overlord.
As the night fell however, they all hurdled up together and Markus slept among the wolves. His armour remained active.
"They would've attacked you by now." Anax said
'What if they get peckish in the middle of the night! I don't want to be a snack for these oversized dogs—' Markus replied
After an uneventful night, Markus realised that the wolves were hungry. They hadn't actually hunted anything and therefore had not eaten anything recently.
He sent out his essence and found a bear. It was…
"Thank the spirits wind essence doesn't mean I get to smell the stuff I can sense…" Markus said as he tried to shake off the image of a bear pooping
He led the pack forward toward the massive grizzly bear.
As he approached the bear with the pack who began to howl, he noticed that his own attunement had improved. Spending time with wind attuned wolves helped his connection to the wind. He could now influence a bit of whirlwind.
Which was useful considering they would have to fight a brown red grizzly. As flames sparked in the eyes of the massive beast, several slashes appeared on its body.
Tearing into its flesh, Markus unleashed whirlwind slashes. They were the only thing he could manage right now but it was enough. Before long he had single handedly cut down the beast, going as far as chopping off its head in an unrelenting alternation of slashes from left to right.
They wolves looked toward their master, salivating and wagging their tails.
"Eat." Markus said
Feeling his intention, they pounced forward and greedily sank their teeth into the bear.
Markus himself wanted to see what bear tasted like but the smell was slightly sickening.
So he found nearby berries. Only…
"I've no clue if these are safe to eat or not. Anax?" Markus asked
"Do I look like a botanist? If you don't know it's safe then don't touch it." Anax said
Markus sighed as he skipped the meal.
As the wolves devoured the bear's carcass, Markus felt something approaching.
A much bigger, much more ferocious and similarly brown bear.
'Oh don't tell me that was the cub—' Markus said
The mother bear was over 8 metres tall and four metres wide. And worse yet, her essence was that of an elite flame user.
'So this would be Bailey as a bear— just great.' Markus thought
"Are you going to run?" Anax asked
"Doubt I can outrun a pissed off mother bear that size. Doubt I can overpower her too…" Markus said
"So?" Anax asked
"So I outwit her." Markus said
The wolves had walked up behind him.
The mother bear grunted and roared as she charged forward. The tress and bushes caught on fire as she ran past them right into Markus and the pack.
With a stomp of his foot, Markus flew over the charging bear and formed a regular wind spear and threw it into her hide from above, aiming for the spine.
The spear however, was incinerated. The wolves tried to dodge but they were not so quick and were mauled over, incapacitating four of the six wolves.
'Dammit all' Markus thought as he landed behind the bear
The mother bear turned and with another roar blasted Markus in the treeline. Due to his shell, it was the trees getting torn and not his body.
"You might want to run now whilst it's on the wolves." Anax said
"Quit it already. I'm killing this fucking bear." Markus said as he propelled himself forward
The bear mother was approaching the two wolves.
Markus shot forward two wind blasts to distract her. As she turned, he slid under her and created a wind blade to slit her stomach open.
The blade however just glides across the fur, never having a chance to cut her open.
'The damn skin is just too defended— if only there was a weak spot or two!' Markus thought
She looked down and roared, sending him flying again.
'I wonder… that technically shouldn't be reinforced? Right???' Markus thought as he got up again and waited for her to rush him.
Not a moment too late, the giant beast chased him down. Markus propelled himself above her and flew above her head. With a thought, two whirlwind needles shot in her eyes, blinding her.
She roared in fury but Markus looked deep inside her mouth and created a construct to lock her jaw. Then he stuck his hand in.
'This better work—' he thought as he unleashed as many whirlwind slashes as he could in a single moment.
The construct gave way in less than a second but Markus yanked his arm back out when he saw her jaws close in.
The bear mother tried to move but she wobbled before throwing up and collapsing in an instant.
Her insides had been blended and turned to mush, damn near killing her in an instant.
Once she collapsed, Markus too collapsed.
Heavily breathing, Markus looked up at the sky.
'Holy shit it actually worked—' he thought, shocked at how stupidly well his gamble went
He sensed the area around him and found nothing. This area of the forest was under the bear's control and nobody had decided to challenge it. Until now that was.
Waiting for the wolves to recover, Markus waited several days. Thankfully they had a lot of meet— although it was spoiling and stinking up the place.
Unfortunately for Markus, by the second day…
'Ugh I can't believe I have to eat bear—' he thought as he bit into cooked meat from the mother bear
!!
'It's good!? It's not nearly as bad as I thought— and my whirlwind somehow tenderised it? I wonder if this is an actual method or just pure luck? Anax— have you ever had whirlwind cut meat?' Markus asked
"… well- no. Your ancest— the Windbournes from my time isolated themselves so there were very few people who could actually use whirlwind. And of those people, none of them were cooks. It was only after the house of Windbourne was established and their spreading throughout the continent that the power of whirlwind became widespread." Anax said with a sigh
'Oh well—' Markus said as he kept eating
'I would ask you to give me control so I can taste it but I doubt you'd agree.' Anax thought to himself
Once the wolves recovered, Markus and the pack moved deeper into the forest.
They spent another two days slowly advancing and hunting weak prey like rabbits and deer.
It was at this time, the Tuatri student council had finally arrived at the capital border.
A golden crystal appeared over the horizon as the transport approached.
"The Capital…" Helen said as she looked in the window
The capital was both a title and a name. It was a city like no other because it was constructed on yellow ground that looked like gold. The entire area was rich in minerals and crystals, which gave the monarch a great reach and empowerment. Home territory advantage.
"It is within this area that all conventional elemental powers were suppressed. In other regions, the opposites of the region were suppressed. For instance in crimson, water users are suppressed by the heat but equally they are empowered by it. The reverse is true, flame users are weakened in Aquabourne but water users are empowered by it." Haroldson said to the council
"So you are weakened in Windbourne vice headmaster?" Triss asked
"Indeed." He said with a nod
When they arrived at the city walls, a similar inspection happened as it did in Crimson City.
Once they were let in however, they felt watched.
"That is the queen's presence. Within these walls, her subjects were under her direct gaze." Haroldson asked
"But that is over 2000 square kilometres of control— how can a human be able to perceive that!?" Helen exclaimed
"That is the power of a master. The most powerful master in the whole continent. Moreover this is a passive sight. She is not aware of every crevice but can look into the zones. An elemental lord may be able to withstand seeing this much but they are more akin to lesser spirits than they are to mortals." Haroldson said
As they arrived at the Royal Academy, Markus too arrived at the entrance of a cave.
Both groups were entering a lion's den. Both metaphorical… but the danger was all too real.